Exercises to keep you young

Nothing says "old" more than slow, stiff, jerky movements accompanied by grunting and puffing. Is that how you move? When you bend to pick something up off the floor, are you forced to do it in slow, hesitant motions? When you stand up from a chair, do you have to get up in little jerky moves, fighting for balance?

If so, it's time to make your body supple and youthful again.

Much of the stiffness we dismiss as old age is really just a lack of flexibility and, to some degree, muscle atrophy in the trunk and upper legs. When your abdomen and spinal erectors (muscles of the lower back) aren't strong, it's impossible to bend in smooth, graceful movements. Balancing the heavy weight of your upper body over your lower body is difficult when the core muscles that have to support that weight are weak. Your head alone weighs nearly 10 pounds.

To strengthen the muscles you need to sit, stand and bend easily, you don't have to go to a gym. Just buy an exercise ball. When you purchase the right one for your size, it will allow you to sit on the ball with your thighs parallel to the floor. Have the store clerk show you how to inflate the ball if you don't already know how to do it.

I've found that doing these exercises works best in bare feet, because you want your feet to be able to firmly grip the floor. If you've never used an exercise ball before, start by just sitting on the ball to get used to it. Push with your feet to roll it back a little, then push the ball out to each side by moving your butt from side to side. Once you get used to the balance of sitting on a ball, it's time for the youth-ifying exercise session.

Take a handful of small objects -- pennies work well to build your manual dexterity -- and drop them between the ball and your feet. Put some in front of the ball and some out to the side. Now, keeping your feet firmly on the floor, stay seated and push the ball around while bending and leaning to pick up the objects from the floor. Notice that you use a lot of core muscles, and you also stretch them. This will build your flexibility and get rid of the stiffness that's blamed on old age.

Once you've picked everything up off the floor, drop it all back down and pick it up again. This is a very gentle way of building up those weak muscles in the core and upper legs. But more important, doing this at least once a day will gradually get your body accustomed to making these movements. You become used to the different center of gravity when bending over and leaning in different positions. It allows you to become flexible and sure of your balance.

Within several weeks, you'll notice a big difference in the way you move; you'll be able to bend to get something off the floor with youthful grace. Other movements will also seem younger, because you'll be surer of your balance.

But aside from just being able to move in a younger manner, there's a huge additional benefit. Being able to better balance the weight of your upper body will help protect you against dangerous falls, one of the biggest causes of injury to those Boomer age and older.